[Reader-list] introductory i-fellow posting

[A Khanna]

Hi all,

This is akshay, one of the new i-fellows. Apologies for the delay in
making this introductory posting.

I have been most excited about many of the projects that people have
described, finding resonances with my own concerns and interests and
look forward to lots of brain picking and interaction.

I am presently in the fieldwork phase of a PhD in Social Anthropology
at the University of Edinburgh. I am interested in experiences of
sexuality, the constitution of sexuality related identities, the
criminalisation of desire and the ‘social life’ of law (with a special
focus on Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code), amongst other things.
Calling this ‘fieldwork’ feels a little strange coz this is my life, my
home  and the issues that I’ve been concerned with for a large part of
my life.

The (ever changing) focus of the PhD is presently on interactions
between Queer movements and various forms of activism – people’s
movements, NGOs, the HIV/AIDS sector and academia. I am looking at the
uptake and re-constitution of discourses relating to sexuality in
these. Looking, for example, at how people from the right to health
movment articulate their concerns around sexuality, and the activisms
that they engage in. Its exciting and, well, fun.

I often present myself as a ‘Queer activist’, and am associated with a
group in Delhi called Prism. I generally live out of a backpack, and
have homes in a range of different spaces. I am queer – which means
that I engage in, and am open to, a range of relationalities and sexual
experiences that challenge heteronormative imaginations of the way the
world should be.

Now, about the project that’s being enabled by the Sarai fellowship.
The last few years have seen the emergence of a range of ‘queer
friendly’ spaces in Delhi. The context of the initial emergence of
these spaces is the ‘human rights approach’ to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
The perfect example of this would be support groups for queer folk –
the provision of ‘safe spaces’ for people like us to meet other people
like us. While these spaces have been extremely significant, there is
some peculiarity about the infrastructural relationship between the
HIV/AIDS sector/context and queer movements. My sense is that the
formation of communities is related, in a complex way, to space where
this happens. My premise is that architecturally, and in terms of
objects that are present, the way the space is organised, imaginaries
of the boundaries of the space, and the terms of one’s presence – what
is permissible and what is not, at what point is one corssing the
boundary – affects, in complex ways the possibilities of interactions,
reflection and self-representation.

This relationship between space and community formation is recognised
in queer community in Delhi. Jagah, an initiative of the Nigah Media
Collective, which attempts to provide a temporal space for queer
artistic representations is one example of the recognition of ‘space’
as a significant factor in the politics of sexualitry. At a more
mundane level, we see that queer groups, such as Prism, choose to meet
outside of NGO spaces, often in cafés, with the explicit concern of
avoiding weaving themselves into the fabric of the NGO sector.
It is in this context that I intend to enable a ‘queer’ space – apni
jagah, zara hut ke.
My next post wil be more descriptive of what I imagine this space to be
like, but briefly –
I envisage this space to be one where:
- activists could drop in, talk, read, interact, watch and reflect on
representraions of queerness in mainstream movies etc. unfettered by
constraints of speaking to an ‘outside’ audience – generally a space
that is open all the time
- Queer people may engage with representations and articulations by
other queer people – where people who visit articulate for themselves
and other queer people, ideas, feelings vagera 
exhibitions, painting
on walls, writing, dance and theatre performances – where people may
engage, constest, respond, add to each others representations of
‘community’, and  exchange experiences.
- As a palimpsest of such queer experiences, this space could provide a
particularly warm context for interviews, group discussions and the
like focussing on biographies, framings of memories and issues of the
queer movements and constructions of the queer movement and its futures.

I guess a lot is going to happen in this space. The Sarai fellowship,
in particular enables me to focus on the processes involved in the
creation and negotiation of this space. Right from the start (looking
for a place – the experience of being thrown out by landlord because
hijras, for example, visit often, is not something new to the queer
movement) I hope to have the process of setting up the space and how it
emerges, itself, documented, with queer film makers, photographers, and
the like.

To start with, I’m going to be meeting landlords and estate agents in
different parts of Delhi, (perhaps with dictaphone in pocket) and
telling them about this plan to see how they react. Anyone who wants to
join me in this exciting endeavour, please email!

Much warmth on cold winter night,

akshay